New entrance signs finally finished and up; town's digital sign still fodder of discussion

The back side of the final entrance sign to be installed at the eastern side of the community, thanking visitors for visiting and sporting our new hemlock cone logo. (Dan McClelland photo)

by Dan McClelland

The installation of three new signs at each entrance of our community generated applause from Councilman John Quinn at the town board's meeting in August.

At the time of the meeting on August 11, the entrance sign on the east end of the community was missing. It has since been erected, however, completing the project.

The three signs were paid for through a wayfaring grant that Community Development Specialist Melissa McManus landed for the town about five years ago. The signs feature the community logo, which includes the hemlock cone and the words: “Tupper Lake...Connect and Discover.”

The final design of the new signs took many meetings over a five-year period. Involved were not only local officials, but representatives of the state Department of Transportation. Because the signs are situated on state highways, they had to comply with rigorous state color and state design standards- thereby complicating the process.

Town officials did not see the final designs until earlier this year.

One of the criticisms by John Quinn and others on the board was that there was no messaging on the back of the three signs in the final designs forwarded to the town.

The finished products, however, carry a message on the back of each, thanking visitors for visiting Tupper Lake.

At this month's town board meeting Councilman Quinn was pleased with the message on the back side of each sign. “Someone got to the DOT and I am giving credit to Melissa McManus.

On another sign issue, he said he thought the new digital sign on the front lawn of the town hall “should basically serve local government purposes- announcing town board meetings, planning board meetings, emergency notifications, etc.”

“If we have space and time to put up the Riverpigs games announcement, I don't have a problem with that. I notice this week the Tupper Lake Open was advertised...I'm fine with that. I'm just concerned that if we have a number of groups competing for sign space, someone is going to get their nose out of joint” if their announcement doesn't make it on the lighted board.

“It's just a comment I offer” to avoid a conflict in the future, he told his colleagues.

Supervisor Patti Littlefield said Mr. Quinn had discussed the issue with him before the meeting.

“As I thought about that and when we applied for our variance to have that sign legally placed and I met with the zoning board at the village office, we said we would use it for public notifications and certainly for emergencies,” Mrs. Littlefield said.

“We also mentioned it wouldn't be too bright so it didn't fight with our dark skies.”

“Emergency announcements must always take precedence over everything else,” Mr. Quinn asserted.

“I think John makes a good point,” Councilman Mike Dechene chimed in, saying there should be rules or a policy for what is posted on the town sign. “Someone may eventually ask us to post their keg party...people often ask for funny things!”

The supervisor said she has seen similar signs in North Country communities where couples are congratulated on their upcoming wedding or the arrival of a new baby.

Mike Dechene said when he was a member of the school board and the district's new digital sign was installed on the side lawn of the high school “I was adamant we post emergency notices first!”

“-And it didn't happen as much I would have liked to see it happen...we are one community and so I was glad to see when community events began to appear there. I congratulate school officials on that!”

He cautioned that it is a fine line any sign owner must tread between what are private notices and which are public or community ones.

Mr. Quinn also said he was “still bugged” by those four stray lights that appear on the town sign.

The supervisor said to delete those lights they were advised by the company that installed the sign from Colton that a corrective measure can be found in an access panel near the top of the sign to check the connections.

“Could we ask the company to come back and do that for us?” Mr. Dechene asked the supervisor, who said she has called the company “forty times. We're hoping one day they will show up to fix it!”